Made In Medway: African American Portraits by Local artist

Kim holding her portrait of Rosa Parks.
Parks was a civil rights activist who refused to surrender her seat to a white passenger on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955. Her defiance sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Its success launched nationwide efforts to end racial segregation of public facilities.

You may recall, I have shared local artist, Kim Blenkhorn's portraits on this blog before. In recent months Kim has focused her attention on illustrating African American heroes who have been leaders in our nation and in our world. “People’s of many different backgrounds, races and culture have made our country what it is today and I think they ought to be honored and recognized for their brave acts and courageous influence. I believe that our history is not perfect but it belongs to us all it is sprinkled with beauty, strength and grace, it is tainted with some ugly spots too. It is made up of all sorts of colors and peoples and languages and faiths. Our world is a masterpiece. The people I draw are those who fill it deserving to be remembered for the way they contributed in positive ways.” Who are the people of color we have all looked up to? We ought to be focusing on them and learning from the voices of our past as much as our present, so that we can make a better future.

Kim has always chosen people to draw who influence her. She wants to share their stories, to educate some and remind others. She was most impressed by Parks because of her quiet protest, and peaceful determination not with violence or hate, but with character and poise.

Kim is a self taught artist who has focused on using pencil for her portraits the past couple years. She draws people of all backgrounds, not based on what they look like or how famous they are, but their heart and courage. “We read today shorts clips here and there articles that are brief enough to hold our attention, but I would encourage all of us living in todays world to engage in yesterdays biographies, stories of depth and histories of people that we can all look up to. We must learn from the past through the eyes of those who experienced it."

““Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.”― Nelson Mandel

Humanity is a people of resiliency and we were designed to prevail against all odds and it is amazing how many odds we have prevailed against.

Kim wants to teach others through her drawings, to share their stories so the next generation do not forget those in the past who have made the way for the future..

Nelson Mandela

Ruby Bridges
Bridges was born during the middle of the Civil Rights Movement. Brown v. Board of Education was decided three months and twenty-two days before Bridges' birth. The court ruling declared the process of separating schools for black children and white children unconstitutional. Though the Brown v. Board of Education decision was finalized in 1954, southern states were extremely resistant to the decision that they must integrate for the six following years. Many white people did not want schools to be integrated and, though it was a federal ruling, state governments were not doing their part in enforcing the new laws. In 1957, federal troops were ordered to Little Rock, Arkansas to escort the Little Rock Nine students in combating violence that occurred as a result of the decision. Under significant pressure from the federal government, the Orleans Parish School Board administered an entrance exam to students at Bridges' school with the intention of keeping black people out of white schools.

Kim was inspired to draw Ruby Bridges because of her amazing confidence. Even as a child she had the strength to walk into an unfamiliar school, with unfamiliar faces amidst a sea of parents hurling insults at her. She was escorted by US Marshals everyday while being taunted and threatened. And every day she prayed for these people, because ““My mother and our pastor always said you have to pray for your enemies and people who do you wrong, and that's what I did." -Bridges

Kim has focused many of her drawings on people of faith. Who looked upward and inward to solve problems and find strength for the circumstances that we face outward.

"We may not all be equally guilty. But we are all equally responsible for building a decent and just society." Bridges